Fox Of Greed (Greedy Fox Book 1)

~~ 33.5 ~~

Ban's POV 

The sun was setting on the upturned town of Vaizel. Really not much remained of it, beside a lump of Earth that would rival a mountain.

"Hey, you guys!" Diane hollered, waving Gideon in the air.

Elizabeth and Hawk ran off to meet her; I bent down and shook King violently. He came awake with a groan. His wounds had stopped bleeding which was probably a good thing.

"Come on. Diane's waiting for you," I joked. The Fairy King shot off like a bolt towards the giantess. I shrugged my shoulders, stood up and dusted myself off.

Man, what a pain. My clothes were ruined again, not to mentioned I'd had to rip the hem of the shirt up to help that ungrateful fox. Speaking of... I looked around but she'd disappeared from sight. Seriously, after all I did, she bloody ditched!

"Ungrateful," I muttered under my breath and followed the others. I arrived as Diane was opening her hand, knelt down to our height.

Meliodas was cradled in her palm. She set him gently on the ground. With a growl, I leapt forward, overtaking Elizabeth who was running cheerfully towards the Captain.

Cheerfully? After what she witnessed?

I socked him in the face. He bounced once then crashed into a rock, shattering it in two.

"Cap'n, with this, we'll call it even for now," I said. That's payback for punching me in half, you dolt.

"Gotcha," Meliodas groaned from the rock pile and gave a thumbs up. Elizabeth ran over and hugged him tight, muttering to him, before the Captain's hands wandered to her backside.

I pursed my lips. Elaine. Would I one day have the relationship that these two have? I shook my head – now wasn't the time for these thoughts.

"Oh King! Are you alright?" Diane had swung her head in our direction. King stood in front of me.

He blushed brilliant red and clutched his pillow tighter. "Haha, I'm not really alright."

I whacked his chest, right on the wound. He turned an ugly shade of curdled milk. "Stop making such a big deal about a little scratch!" He gave a shudder then whirled on me.

With a growl, he threw himself and his pillow at me. All I had to do was place an outstretched hand on his forehead to keep his flailing fists away. I yawned. "Seriously? That's the best you can do?"

There came a clatter near a broken set of wooden doors, probably the only remaining structure of Vaizel that still had some form. An avalanche of rocks revealed that big guy – Griamore – using his perfect shell to keep himself and the second Princess protected. Shame, really, that she died by the hands of those sworn to protect her.

At least Estra had tried to right that wrong.

Elizabeth wandered over to the sobbing man as he dropped his perfect shell. I was too far away to hear what they were saying – didn't really care either way what they were saying.

"I'll definitely... stop the Holy Knights." Elizabeth had turned back to us. Tears streamed down her cheeks. "I'll stop them for sure."

Had to admire her commitment. King floated beside me. I jabbed a hand at his body again. He cried out in pain and buzzed around me.

Hawk asked, "Will he go back to the kingdom after this?"

"Who knows? Now that we know that there's discord amongst the Holy Knights too," Meliodas said.

"Maybe him and Estra will team up," Hawk huffed. "Man, that girl had some serious issues today!"

"Huh, Estra was here?"

"Yeah, Captain," I butted in before the others. "And you caved her chest in and shattered her arm into a million pieces. You're lucky she can heal herself."

Sombre and tense was the mood. Everyone avoided looking at the Captain or I.

He studied me. "I thought you didn't like her." Meliodas cracked a smile.

I opened my mouth but the words had been stunned in my throat. I didn't like her! Why was he insinuating that I did? I helped her because he'd and the Princess would be on my case. He sure did feel strongly towards the Fox even if he didn't show it. 

"Well where is she? I'll apologise. Should probably let her have a swing at me too," he said, looking around.

"She's gone. Probably run off with her Holy Knight buddies," I explained. Elizabeth threw a hand over her mouth.

Hawk said, "It was like she didn't even remember us. She kept saying that we were her enemies and Meliodas had killed her family."

"And she's crazy strong too. I wasn't expecting her to be so powerful when you explained her to us, Elizabeth," King said.

Elizabeth had her face in her hands. "They've done something to her. Back at Liones," she said through her fingers.

"Maybe it was whatever they did to those other two knights?" I questioned.

Meliodas rubbed his chin in thought. "If she's with the Holy Knights and doesn't remember us, we'll have to tread carefully next time we meet with her."

"You think she'll come for us?" Diane asked.

"Probably. But I think they might be done with us for a while," he replied.

"Considering your sword is missing," I finished his sentence.

Everyone gasped.

"Guess it was stolen," he put simply.

"Wasn't it something important to you? Is it really fine?" Elizabeth asked.

A dark look fastened over the Captain's features. "It's not fine at all," he said after a beat of silence. "The situation is dire." His eyes darted to Elizabeth and his tone changed. "But honestly, Elizabeth, if you're alright, then it's all good."

Smooth. Real smooth, Cap'n. I chuckled as Diane hefted Meliodas into the air. Elizabeth was a blushing mess.

"What, so it's alright even if I'm not fine?" Diane huffed.

"What are you talking about, Diane? You're always fine!" was the Captain's smart response.

The wind shifted as evening began to overtake the land. I sniffed and my head swivelled in Hawk's direction. "I want pork," I said quite suddenly which prompted everyone to turn and sniff towards our crispy pig.

"I'm not food!" he hollered. "Mama!" he shrieked when we started closing in on him.

I couldn't wait to get into the kitchen and cook dinner. I was starving after that fight. Hawk's mother appeared with the tavern strapped to her back. Guess she got out of Vaizel before the whole thing came crashing down.

That night, we stayed in the cool shadow of the rocky outcrop. Everyone had wounds to tend to – besides me – and everyone was raring for a hearty dinner. I poured each of us a copious amount of ale into tankards and served roasted pork with baked potatoes and fried mushrooms.

They were drooling before I'd even finished.

"Starting tomorrow, we'll open the bar as usual in the next town. And the search for the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins, Estra and the Sacred Treasures can continue!" Meliodas proclaimed as we ate.

I sculled my drink and slammed it on the table, drawing everyone's attention. "So who was the champion of the fight festival?"

A/N: Quite dialogue heavy for this chapter. It is also very hard to get in Ban's head. I never realised how hard it would be to write from his character. Maybe it was a good thing this didn't turn into a Ban x OC story XD